20 Egyptian Scientists You Should Know About (Episode 1 of 2)
Map of Egypt.
Photo: Britannica
Introduction: Egypt has been prominent in every aspect of innovation, science, and technology. Although people think of archaeology and ancient ruins when they think of Egypt, it is much more diverse making its Arab and World presence quite important. In this article, we get to meet some of Egypt’s 20 most prominent and dedicated Scientists, ones who are still alive and who passed away leaving a legacy of accomplishments.
By: Noureldin Mohamed/Arab America Contributing Writer
The history of Egypt does not only extend to archaeological and ancient findings. In fact, Egypt is known for its accomplishments in the Arabic language, art, religion, and science. Here is a list of the first 10 Egyptian scientists and their accomplishments in alphabetical order. (To be continued in the next article….)
1.
Ahmed Kamal (1849-1923)
Ahmed Kamal Pasha, of Turkish origins was Egypt’s first Egyptlogist. He was a curator at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and a staff member of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. He wrote many books and catalogs on the topic of Egyptology in French, which was later translated into English. However, he only discovered the only known attestation of Pharaoh Khui. The Egyptian Scientist died on August 5, 1923.
Ahmed Zewail (1946-2016)
Known as the ‘Father of Femtochemistry’, Ahmed Hassan Zewail became the first Egyptian to win a Nobel Prize in a scientific field in 1999. The American Egyptian scientist was an expert in Femtochemistry, the study of chemical reactions across femtoseconds. Using a rapid ultrafast laser technique (consisting of ultrashort laser flashes), the technique allows the description of reactions on very short time scales, short enough to analyze transition states in selected chemical reactions. In 1990, he was selected as the school’s first Linus Pauling Professor of Chemical Physics. Zewail also served as a visiting professor at a number of institutions, including Texas A&M University, the University of Iowa, and American University at Cairo. The Egyptian Scientist founded Zewail City of Science and Technology in 2011, a premier institute of technology in Cairo. He received multiple honorary degrees from top universities around the world as well as in Egypt. He died on August 2, 2016 at the age of 70.
Ali Moustafa Mosharafa (1898-1950)
Dr. Ali Moustafa Mosharafa was an Egyptian theoretical physicist. He was professor of applied mathematics in the Faculty of Science at Cairo University, and also served as its first dean. He contributed to the development of the quantum theory as well as the theory of relativity. In 1914, he obtained his baccalaureate at the age of 16 becoming the youngest to be awarded the certificate. His books include ‘We and Science’, ‘Science and Life’, and ‘Atom and Atomic Bombs’. Over the 1920s-1930s, he studied Maxwell’s equations and the special relativity and he had correspondence with Albert Einstein. The death of Mosharafa is a questionable one. There are three theories concerning his death. The first is that he was assassinated by Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service. The second is that he was assassinated on the orders of King Farouk of Egypt. The third is that he died of a heart attack. He was certainly the Egyptian Scientist most able to work on developing an atomic bomb, but he was strongly opposed to using science for military purposes. There was no work done, however. Dr. Ali died on January 16, 1950 at the age of 51.
Aziz Suryal Atiya (1898-1988)
Fourth on our list of Egyptian Scientists is Aziz Suryal Atiya. Dr. Atiya was an Egyptian Coptologist who was a Coptic historian and scholar and an expert in Islamic and Crusades studies. Atiya was the founder of the Institute of Coptic Studies in Cairo in 1950s, and was also the founder of the Middle East Center, University of Utah. His library, The Aziz Atiya Library for Middle East Studies at University of Utah, is considered the fifth largest such collection in North America and is recognized internationally as a major research library in this field. In 1974, he was honored with a “Festchrift,” a book of research papers of noted scholars. Such as work is the highest recognition a scholar can receive from his colleagues. He wrote more than 40 books and monographs in three different languages. Among them: the “History of Eastern Christianity” and “Catalogue Raisonne of the Arabic Manuscripts of Mount Sinai.” Dr. Atiya’s expedition to St. Catherine’s Monastery on Mount Sinai, brought to light documents that had gone unnoticed for centuries, including 2,000 scrolls in Arabic and Turkish dating from the 10th to the 19th centuries. He died on September 24, 1988 at the age of 90 in New Jersey, United States.
Essam E. Khalil (1948- )
Essam Eldin Khalil Hassan Khalil is an Egyptian Mechanical Engineer. Khalil is a professor in the Mechanical Power department at Cairo University. He received his Ph.D in Mechanical Engineering at London Imperial College, as well as a postdoctoral fellowship. He is the author and co-author of several international researches in HVAC field. His many years of experience in delivering courses in air-conditioning to University, college students, to building managers and maintenance staff gave him prominence in both the industrial and commercial sectors in Egypt, the Arab countries and worldwide. He won the National Award for Scientific Achievement in Engineering Sciences in 1981. His fields are in Thermal Power, Combustion, Heat Transfer and Environmental Engineering. Dr. Khalil is also the chairman of National HVAC Committee in Egypt, member of the National Energy Code Committee of Egypt and the chair of HVAC sub-group. He is a registered HVAC consultant and the president of the Arab Air Conditioning Code Committee. Dr. Khalil is the Chairman of Consulting Engineering Bureau, CEB.
Farouk El-Baz (1938- )
Farouk El-Baz is an Egyptian American space scientist and geologist, who worked with NASA in the scientific exploration of the Moon and the planning of the Apollo program. The Egyptian American scientist received his masters and PhD from the Missouri School of Science and Technology. He was a leading geologist on the program, responsible for studying the geology of the Moon, the selection of landing sites for the Apollo missions, and the training of astronauts in lunar observations and photography. He played a key role in the Apollo 11 moon landing mission, and later Apollo missions. He also came up with the idea of touchable moon rocks at a museum, inspired by his childhood pilgrimage to Mecca where he touched the Black Stone (which in Islam is believed to be sent down from the heavens). He also rediscovered the Kuwait river known as Wadi Al-Batin using ground penetrating radar technology in the 1993’s Dr. El-Baz has a current as a Research Professor and Director of the enter for Remote Sensing at Boston University. Although, may say he retired to travels regularly to the Middle East to encourage desert research.
7.
Faten Zahran Mohamed (1955- )
Faten Mohamed is an Egyptian biochemist and environmental biologist, cancer biologist and toxicologist known for her work on the anti-tumoral effects of snake venom and iodoacetate. Iodoacetate is a derivative of acetic acid and an irreversible inhibitor of all cysteine peptidases, with the mechanism of inhibition occurring from alkylation of the catalytic cysteine residue She is currently head of the Biochemistry.
Fawzia Fahim (1931- )
Fawzia Abbas Fahim is an Egyptian biochemist and environmental biologist known for her work on the anti-tumoral effects of snake venom and iodoacetate. Fahim has also made important contributions to infant and occupational health, and pollution issues in Egypt. Fahim worked as a Demonstrator in the Faculty of Engineering, Department of Chemistry at Cairo University, from 1957 to 1962. She received a governmental grant from the United Kingdom, where she attended Birmingham University. She is currently Professor of Biochemistry at Ain Shams University, Egypt.
Gamal Hamdan (1928-1993)
Gamal Hamdan is an Egyptian scholar and geographer. Among his most prominent books are The Character of Egypt, Studies of the Arab World, and The Contemporary Islamic World Geography, which form a trilogy on Egypt’s natural, economic, political, and cultural character and its position in the world. State Incentive Prize for Arts and Letters, 1959. State Merit Prize for Social Science, 1986. Scientific Criticism Award, by the State of Kuwait, 1986. Order of Merit of the First Class for Science and Arts, 1988. In line with his full dedication to science and his almost ascetic attitude to formalities, he refused to break up with his self-imposed solitude. Apart from the first prize awarded to him in 1959, he refused to receive any of the other prizes. Hamdan’s deep vision made him a smart predictor as he anticipated several events which, he thought, were compatible with geographical facts, the most famous of which is his prediction of the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Hamdan announced that “The Character of Egypt” was the product of ten years of dedicated efforts and researches, in which he used 245 Arabic and 691 foreign reference books. In his masterpiece, he extensively explained the factors making-up the Egyptian personality since the early days of the Pharaohs. For Hamdan, Egypt was the main chapter of the geography book. In addition, he was the author of “Anthropology of Jews” to prove that the current Jews are not descendants of Jews who left Palestine. Hamdan died on April 17, 1993, where the lower half of his body was found burned as he may have been killed by the Mossad.
10.
Hatim Zaghloul (1953- )
Dr. Hatim Zaghloul for his innovation, together with his long-time friend, Dr. Michel Fattouche of Wideband Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (WOFDM), and Multi-code Direct-sequence Spread Spectrum (MCDSSS). WOFDM is the foundation for the IEEE 802.11a/g/n technologies whereas MCDSSS helped increase the data rates of code division multiple access (CDMA) technologies as in the CDMA2000 standard. To summarize, he has developed internet usage and WiFi. At the age of 22, he received a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Cairo University. He obtained his M.Sc. in physics from the University of Calgary in 1985 and his PhD in 1994. As an immigrant since 1983, the Canadian Egyptian developer received several awards in the field. He was presented with the Hall of Fame Award from Broadband Solutions on April 10, 2000, for his contribution to the communications technology industry. In addition, Named one of 10 Great Canadians by MacLean’s Magazine in July 2000. Currently, Dr. Zaghloul is the CEO and Chairman of Innovation Inc., Giza, Egypt, a company specializing in building wireless data networks in unconnected countries through WiFi and blockchain.
Next 10 Egyptian Scientists to be continued in a later article…..
Check out our Blog!
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Egyptian_scientists
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ahmed-Zewail
https://academicinfluence.com/people/fawzia-fahim
